Pittsburgh renews contracts of Oliver Perez and Jason Bay

The agents for both players thought the offers were too low.
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Pirates renewed the contracts of left-handed pitcher Oliver Perez and left fielder Jason Bay after they failed to come to terms Wednesday.
Perez will make $381,000 this season and Bay $355,000.
Perez and Bay were among three Pirates players that remained unsigned Wednesday afternoon. Third baseman Ty Wigginton signed a one-year contract before the team's 5 p.m. deadline for contract renewals.
Any player who didn't sign his contract by the deadline was subject to a $10,000 penalty, but the Pirates did not penalize either Perez or Bay.
"We would love to have had everybody come to terms at the amount we offered," Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield said. "We feel that we rewarded both of these guys for having good years. They decided the reward wasn't enough."
The renewal process runs from March 2-11, but the Pirates historically have set aside the first day as their deadline.
"We choose that date because it does not interfere with spring games and won't be a distraction," Littlefield said.
Good seasons
Perez made $321,000 in 2004, his first full major league season. He emerged as one of baseball's top young left-handed pitchers, going 12-10 with a 2.98 ERA and 239 strikeouts in 196 innings. He led all major league starters in strikeouts per nine innings.
Perez gets a $60,000 raise and the highest one-year salary for a non-arbitration player in team history.
Bay, who gets a $50,000 raise, made $305,000 when he batted .282 with 26 homers and 82 RBIs, a season that earned him the franchise's first ever Rookie of the Year award.
Littlefield said the Pirates have a pay scale established for players who do not qualify for salary arbitration. It is based upon service time, performance and a player's role on the team.
Still, the agents for Perez and Bay wanted the Pirates to make exceptions to their pay scale, which was rejected by Littlefield.
"We think it's appropriate for our marketplace," Littlefield said. "We don't change a scale for players, we set up the scale for the organization."
Other decisions
Other teams have rewarded non-arbitration players for exceptional performance. The St. Louis Cardinals gave Albert Pujols a $600,000 contract in 2002, the Houston Astros gave Wade Miller $525,000 in 2003 and the Chicago Cubs gave Carlos Zambrano $450,000 last year.
"What is done outside our arena really doesn't matter to us," Littlefield said. "We take a lot of things into account when we set up our scale. It's in the range [of other teams]. It's not like we're starting off far below what everybody is doing."
Larry Silverman, the Pirates' vice president and general counsel, said the organization took Bay's and Perez's seasons into account when they extended contract offers.
"We try to reward people who have better years," Silverman said.
Joe Urban, the agent for Bay, had expected negotiations to go down to the wire.
"The value of winning the Rookie of the Year award is a significant precedent," Urban said. "The Pirates have acknowledged there is a value in Jason being the Rookie of the Year. The question we have and we're trying to wrap our arms around is, what is that value?"
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